The present invention is directed to a connector structure for a power supply apparatus, and more particularly is directed to a connector structure of a circuit board for a power supply apparatus.
The power supply apparatus is mainly designed for rectifying and converting commercially available power into direct current (DC) power to power a power-receiving device. FIG. 1(a) and FIG. 1(b) respectively show an exploded view and an elevation view of a conventional power supply apparatus. The conventional power supply apparatus basically consists of an upper housing 1 and a lower housing 2. A space is defined between the upper housing 1 and the lower housing 2 for accommodating a circuit board 3 therein. A connector 4 and other necessary electronic elements 30 required by the power supply apparatus are mounted on the circuit board 3. A first concave 11 and a second concave (not shown) are respectively provided on the front side and the rear side of the upper housing 1. A third concave 21 and a fourth concave 22 respectively opposite to the first concave 11 and the second concave are respectively provided on the front side and the rear side of the lower housing 2. When the upper housing 1 and the lower housing 2 are jointed together, the first concave 11 and the third concave 21 forms a rabbet for infixing the connector 4 therein to receive external AC power. The circuitry mounted on the circuit board 3 rectify the AC power into DC power and supply the rectified DC power to power-receiving appliances such as printers, radios and modems through electric wires.
Referring to FIG. 2(a) to FIG. 2(d). The connector 4 basically includes an insulating housing 40 and two conductive terminals 42. The conductive terminals 42 are located in the through-holes inside the housing 40 and pass through the apertures on the backside of the housing (not shown) to create pins 41. Two supporting rods 43 are formed at the bottom 402 of the housing 40. Both the supporting rods 43 and the housing 40 are integrally formed by plastic injection molding technique. The two sides 431 of the supporting rod 43 respectively extends downwards from the bottom 402 of the housing 40 for a distance h and stretches out transversely to form a protruding member 433 with a protruding plane 432. The maximum transversal length d1 of the protruding member 433 is slightly larger than the width d2 of the pinhole 32, and the length h that the supporting rod 43 extends downwards from the housing bottom 402 is slightly larger than the thickness T of the circuit board 3. Because the supporting rod 43 is made up of a plasticity material with an inherent elasticity, the protruding member 433 can pass through the pinhole 32 of the circuit board 3 by exerting an external force thereto until the protruding plane props against the bottom of the circuit board 3. The connector 4 can be fixed to the circuit board 3 accordingly.
Referring back to FIG. 1(a), the connector 4 and the circuit board 3 are connected in such a way that the two metal pins 41 are inserted into the corresponding pinhole 31 on the circuit board 3. Subsequently the protruding member 433 of the supporting rod 43 passes through the pinhole 32 on the circuit board 3 and is adequately positioned. Finally the metal pins 41 are fixed to the circuit board 3 by welding technique.
However, though the above-described way for fixing the connector 4 to the circuit board 3 can allow the connector 4 to be mounted on the circuit board 3 steadily, taking a circuit board with a thickness of 1.6 millimeter and a circuit board with a thickness of 1.2 millimeter as examples, two types of connectors each of which is of different extension length h for the supporting rod are required to fulfill the demands of matching with the circuit boards of different thickness. That signifies that two different molds are needed to manufacture the connector. Therefore the manufacturing cost for the connector will increase substantially and the amount of connectors of different specifications is not likely to be determined in advance, which causes a difficulty in the material management operation.
Since a connector structure for holding circuit boards of different thickness is needed, an improved connector structure comprising an insulating housing, at least two conductive terminals, and at least one supporting rod was proposed in the previous application bearing on the Ser. No. 10/015,345 and filed on Dec. 12, 2001. The proposed connector structure is characterized by that the two sides of the supporting rod respectively extends downwards for a first length and a second length and stretches out to form a protruding member with a first protruding plane and a second protruding plane, wherein the first length is slightly larger than a thickness of a first circuit board and the second length is slightly larger than a thickness of a second circuit board, such that when the protruding member passes through a first pinhole on the first circuit board, the first protruding plane props against a bottom of the first circuit board, and when the protruding member passes through a second pinhole on the second circuit board, the second protruding plane props against a bottom of the second circuit board. However, the important features that the first length is larger than the second length, the thickness of the first circuit board is larger than the second circuit board, the supporting rods are in pillared shape and without any slot or aperture, and the first protruding plane and the second protruding plane are substantially perpendicular to the supporting rods are not defined clearly in the claims but are illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification of the above-mentioned previous application. Therefore, the present invention with clearly defined claims regarding the above mentioned features is proposed as a CIP application to clarify all the ambiguities in the claims of the parent application.
In the invention of Bendorf et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,123,580), a board lock disposed within the receiving aperture of an electrical connector for holding the connector on a thinner circuit board as well as on a thicker circuit board is proposed. The board lock includes a body having a connector engaging portion and two cantilever beams extending from opposite transverse edges. The inner edges of the beams define a slot in between that extends into an enlarged aperture in the center of the body. Each of the outer edges of the beams includes a protrusion and further includes a latching portion at the leading end. By locating the two latches at slightly different distances from the bottom of the housing of the connector the board lock can accommodate tolerance variations in the thickness of the board. Certain noticeable features of Bendorf et al. are that the two cantilever beams of the board lock are going through the same pinhole of the circuit board, only the portion of one latch that is beyond the width of its protrusion is engaged with the bottom surface of a circuit board, and the other latch is either remained in the pinhole for the thicker circuit board case or is spaced from the circuit board for the thinner circuit board case. But due to the following unique features of the present invention that the two supporting rods are in pillared shape without any slot or aperture employed and are aligned in parallel, each of the two supporting rods goes through a different pinholes respectively, the two first (second) protruding latches with one protruding latch from each supporting rod are both propped against the bottom surface of the circuit board and are substantially perpendicular to the supporting rods, and one first (second) protruding latch is stretched to the right and the other first (second) protruding latch is stretched to the left respectively, the connector could be hold to the circuit board more firmly than in the case of Bendorf et al. where only one out of the two latches is engaged with the bottom surface of the circuit board.
In Bendorf et al., if the circuit board is flexed downward a sufficient amount, the two cantilever beams will be pushed inwardly against the slot to become more closely. The two cantilever beams are integrally formed with the housing of the board lock which is disposed within the receiving aperture of the connector. If there is a space squashed out of the slot in between the two cantilever beams, then that will result a upward movement of the connector. One of the two cantilever beams is only having either a protrusion or a latch extended outwardly against the wall of the pinhole but not engaged with the bottom surface of the circuit board. The flexed circuit board will lean to the cantilever beam with the latch either in or away from the pinhole, and the connector will be moved upwardly a little bit while the cantilever beam with the latch either in or away from the pinhole is slid upwardly along the wall of the pinhole since only the other latch is engaged with the bottom surface of the circuit board. Therefore, a space squashed out of the slot in between the two cantilever beams will cause the board lock to slide upwardly along the pinhole and lean to the outer edge of one cantilever beam with a maximum distance counting from the protrusion to the latch of the same cantilever beam if the protrusion is extended outwardly against the wall of the pinhole, and with a maximum distance up to the space squashed out of the slot if the latch is extended outwardly against the wall of the pinhole. Due to the unique features of the present invention mentioned above, the two supporting rods will be firmly positioned and connected to the connector by the two first (second) protruding latches which are firmly engaged with the bottom surface of the connector and there is no possibility that the connector could be moved upwardly. Therefore, there is no such a problem in the present invention that the connector might be moved upwardly by flexed a sufficient amount of the circuit board.
In Bendorf et al., the two cantilever beams are integrally formed with the housing of the board lock which is disposed within the receiving aperture of the connector. Thus, the board lock and the connector might be separated if an unexpected force is employed to pull the connector outwardly by accident before the welding process. But in the present invention, the two supporting rods are integrally formed with the insulating house of the connector and there is no separable component like the block lock of the Bendorf et al. in the connector. Therefore, there is no such a problem in the present invention that a component might be pulled out of the connector by accident.
A board lock with a high retention force typically requires a high insertion force, which makes it harder to mount the connector to the board. In Bendorf et al., it is proclaimed that less insertion force is required when the connector is mounted to the circuit board due to an enlarged aperture in the board lock is employed causing the lengths of the cantilever beams to be extended, and the supporting rods to be more flexible than those of the prior arts. But the slot and aperture in between the two cantilever beams are still employed to applied a retention force to the wall of a pinhole on the circuit board in Bendorf et al., the dilemma of high retention force versus high insertion force still remains. Due to the following reasons regarding the present invention that the supporting rods are in pillared shape and there is no slot or aperture employed, the maximum transversal length of each protruding latch is just slightly larger than the width of each pinhole, and the elasticity of the protruding latchs made of plastic material, the insertion force needed to push each of the supporting rod through each of the pinhole is much less than the insertion force needed in Bendorf et al. where a slot and an aperture in between the two cantilever beams are employed to produce the retention force.
Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to develop a connector structure of a circuit board for a power supply apparatus to deal with the above situations encountered in the prior arts.
An object of the present invention is the provision of a connector structure for a power supply apparatus which can be applied for circuit boards of different thickness and can be fixed to the circuit board steadily.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of a connector structure for a power supply apparatus for reducing the manufacturing cost of the connector.
A first aspect of the present invention is a presentation of a connector for a power supply apparatus, including: an insulating housing having a mounting surface; at least two conductive terminals; and a supporting rod connected to the mounting surface of the insulating housing, further including: a pillared portion; a first protruding latch connected to the pillared portion and extending laterally from a first location on the pillared portion; and a second protruding latch connected to the pillared portion and extending laterally from a second location on the pillared portion, wherein, a thickness of first circuit board is different from a thickness of the second circuit board, the first location is one of those closer to and further away from the mounting surface than the second location and the first protruding latch and the second protruding latch are vertically displaced, such that when the supporting rod passes through a first pinhole on the first circuit board, the first protruding latch props against the bottom of the first circuit board, and when the supporting rod passes through a second pinhole on the second circuit board, the second protruding latch props against the bottom of the second circuit board to prevent a movement of the connector respectively.
In accordance with the connector as described hereinto, the supporting rod is integrally formed with the mounting surface of the insulating housing.
In accordance with the connector as described hereinto, the first protruding latch is integrally formed with the pillared portion of the supporting rod.
In accordance with the connector as described hereinto, the second protruding latch is integrally formed with the pillared portion of the supporting rod.
In accordance with the connector as described hereinto, wherein the projection of the protruding direction of the first protruding latch of the supporting rod and the projection of the protruding direction of the second protruding latch of the supporting rod have an angle of 180 degrees.
A second aspect of the present invention is a presentation of a connector for a power supply apparatus, including: an insulating housing having a mounting surface; at least two conductive terminals; and two supporting rods having a first supporting rod and a second supporting rod both connected to the mounting surface of the insulating housing and aligned in parallel, each further including: a pillared portion; a first protruding latch connected to the pillared portion and extending laterally from a first location on the pillared portion; and a second protruding latch connected to the pillared portion and extending laterally from a second location on the pillared portion, wherein, a thickness of first circuit board is different from a thickness of the second circuit board, the first location is one of those closer to and further away from the mounting surface than the second location, the first protruding latch and the second protruding latch of one of the first supporting rod and the second supporting rod are vertically displaced respectively, and the first protruding latches of the first supporting rod and the second supporting rod, and the second protruding latches of the first supporting rod and the second supporting rod are horizontally linearly displaced respectively, such that when the first supporting rod passes through a first pinhole on the first circuit board and the second supporting rod passes through a second pinhole on the first circuit board, the first protruding latches of the first and second supporting rods prop against the bottom of the first circuit board, and when the first supporting rod passes through a first pinhole on the second circuit board and the second supporting rod passes through a second pinhole on the second circuit board, the second protruding latches of the first and second supporting rods prop against the bottom of the second circuit board to prevent a movement of the connector respectively.
In accordance with the connector as described hereinto, the supporting rod is integrally formed with the mounting surface of the insulating housing.
In accordance with the connector as described hereinto, each of the first protruding latches is integrally formed with each of the pillared portions of the supporting rods.
In accordance with the connector as described hereinto, each of the second protruding latches is integrally formed with each of the pillared portions of the supporting rods.
In accordance with the connector as described hereinto, the projection of the protruding direction of the first protruding latch of the first supporting rod and the projection of the protruding direction of the first protruding latch of the second supporting rod have a angle of 180 degrees, and the projection of the protruding direction of the second protruding latch of the first supporting rod and the projection of the protruding direction of the second protruding latch of the second supporting rod have the angle of 180 degrees.
Now the foregoing and other features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood through the following descriptions with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: